Torture
by Senrune
Summary: Because of a stupid and life threatening stunt Jaune pulled, he's now in the hands of the White Fang. What awaits Ozpin's Apprentice Tactician?
1. Chapter 1

**So… Here's something that's been in my head for a little while since I was trying to find a good way to start the second chapter in my other Fanfic. This is a completely separate story. I don't know how I got here, but I did. So here goes nothing.**

* * *

 **Jaune 12:00 Hours Before Rescue**

"Uuuuuuugh." Jaune groaned in pain and tried to raise his head to look at his surroundings again. He didn't need to see them, but it was something to do in his boredom. These two actions were a terrible mistake, as they elicited pain on two levels, one pain internal as the movement of his head caused severe nausea and pain to his back and neck. The other was external, as the cuts that had crusted over on his chest and back began to split open and begin to trickle blood. He struggled against the chains in pain and just hoped it was all a bad dream. Jaune closed his eyes tightly for a moment before opening them again, only to find, that he was still chained and suspended by his wrists.

Jaune's body decided it would be a good time at this point to convulse and churn his stomach to force the poor boy vomit. Jaune wretched until his body shook and lightly convulsed. When his stomach was empty of what little food he had been given, he slowly began to stop shaking. He didn't care that the blood flowed freely as his body was only covered in blood and his already torn jeans. But at this point modesty was the least of his concerns.

Moving slowly and carefully, Jaune moved his head to look around him and see if he can spot a way out. Just like he had done for the past six months. He looked at the rusted iron door that was the only entrance and exit to this pitiful room. The room was about a 20x20 foot square that had walls tiled in ceramic, and a floor covered in concrete. Jaune cringed. A floor with a fine layer of Jaune's dried blood.

Jaune now eyed the chains that held him aloft, and found, miraculously, that they were still chains. Shackles that bound him to his hell. His torment. His eyes followed the chain until it came to an end in the ceiling, where it was looped through a ring multiple times, then ran back down to his wrists.

Just like the past four months, there was no sign of escape. Surely, his friends were looking for him… But he highly doubted that they were going to find him in Vale. After he stayed awake for an approximate twelve hour ride on a lightweight airship to god knows where. He was almost sure he wasn't on the same continent as his friends. Which meant that rescue wasn't coming anytime soon.

He sighed. This was the same routine he had gone through for the past four months, after two months, he had gotten used to the routine. Wake up at an unknown time, observe surroundings, sleep. The only way he knows it's been so long, is if his personal torturer deems him worthy after a good session. Good being if his tormentor thinks his screams of pain or contorted face are enough to satisfy his twisted desires.

Jaune flinches slightly as the deadbolt in the iron door, clanks and the door swings open. To say Jaune was surprised by his visitor would be an understatement. He was downright terrified. But he didn't let it show.

Cinder stepped into the room, with Jaune's oppressor not far behind.

Through the gap in the door, Jaune could see White Fang soldiers running through the corridor that led to his room. The only reason they could be running is if there was an emergency.

Cinder walked and stood in front of Jaune, expressionless and intimidating. His torturer walked to stand behind Jaune, blood stained every piece of his attire. Jaune was fairly certain that his warden never cleaned washed his clothes.

"Don't get your hopes up boy. No one is coming for you… Yet." Cinder calmly spoke. Jaune looked at her, examining her, reading her expression. Which had none. If there was a man with the world's best poker face. Cinder would give him a run for his money and his life. "But they will be, soon." She continued, "The White Fang will be moving out from this base and destroying so as to not leave any evidence behind that any one was ever here. Including you."

Jaune looked at her evenly, "I don't think so, you wouldn't just calmly leave a base and kill me so easily just to destroy evidence. Plus the fact that the enemy is coming here, while you're just standing there means you purposefully lead them here. Or leaked the information."

Cinder smiled wickedly, "Someone give the boy a cookie because he got it right! Or a knife to the thigh." Cinder nodded to the torturer. At that, Jaune felt a searing pain as a knife tore through his hamstring around and down to his knee. Jaune bit back tears and screams of pain and only grunted, he smiled.

"I'm more of a brownie guy." He chuckled, "But I suppose a cookie will have to do for now. Too bad I can't save it for Ruby." His choice of words would have been more substantial if Jaune's voice hadn't been shaking when he said it.

Cinder slapped Jaune, it wasn't a knife carving up Jaune's skin, but it still hurt. Her nails left four deep scratches that ran across his left cheekbone to the corner of his mouth. Cinder's eyes were playful and seemed to brighten as a thought struck her. "Oh Luke, be a dear and get to work. I'll watch for today I think."

Luke nodded and bowed slightly, "Of course mistress, but don't you need to-"

"I believe I can delay my departure for a little while longer. Nothing a little White Fang lives can't fix to buy me a little more time." She said, as she settled on a slightly bloodstained metal crate just out of Jaune's eyesight. "I wouldn't want to miss Ozpin's little Protégé being persuaded a little more."

* * *

 **Ren 4:00 Hours Before Operation Revival**

Ren always thought that the Bullheads he and his team traveled in were far too quiet for the missions they regularly went on. It always seemed that they should match the mission that they were about to embark on.

But the silence was deafening. He could hear Pyrrha, as she ran a whetstone across Miló, as Ruby as she checked her sniper cartridge for the tenth time, Weiss as she checked Myrtenaster's dust chambers for the third time, Blake as she turned a page for the hundred twenty-first time, Yang as she meticulously sorted her shotgun slugs, flares, and pellets for the sixth time. And finally, Nora, who laid across the bench he was sitting on and rested her head in his lap, she had just breathed for the two hundred- fifty sixth time. Nora had a small smile on her face as she dreamed about… Whatever she liked to dream about. He was never entirely sure. Nora would always tell Ren her dreams, but he was sure she was lying sometimes. The rare occasions when she didn't lie was when she would crawl into his bed at night and tell him she'd had a nightmare. He would always do the same thing. Without a word, he would hug her, kiss the top of her head, not unlike what a father would do for his child, and hum a song that Nora used to sing when they were kids.

He's done this every night since Jaune was captured. He had taken to asking Nora to sleep in his bed to save her the trouble of actually having the nightmare before asking him. The nightmares had stopped, but Nora still cried. Nora was not the only one who had suffered from the Knight's absence. The first night wasn't bad, but no one slept. They were given the next day off from classes for time to take it all in. It didn't help. The second night, Ruby cried for most of the night with Yang comforting her, Weiss and Blake stayed up with them as well, trying anything they could think of to cheer them up.

Nora cried when she finally accepted that Jaune wasn't coming back immediately by some twist of fate or luck. But Ren was pretty sure she was clinging to some desperate hope that he would just come back any second and everything would be fine. It was only after Weiss snapped at her and told her to take the situation seriously, that she finally broke. She cried and started talking hysterically about needing to take notes for Jaune and help him catch up when he got back and training with him to get his 'boney butt back into shape'. She rambled on for hours till she finally passed out.

But out of everyone, Pyrrha was hit the hardest. She didn't show any physical signs of Jaune's absence. However, Ren noted that her tactics had become more… Aggressive, for lack of a better word. She had also become near silent when speaking. Her voice would come out as barely a whisper and she would, at times, elect to not even speak at all. It frightened him.

Jaune was just missing, but if he or anyone else had died, what would happen then? Would the team cohesion and friendship that they had worked so hard for, be for nothing?

Ren shook his head and looked down at his best friend. He'd be damned if he let his leader and friend die in some hell hole. He would get Jaune back or die trying. And he knew his friends shared the same sentiment. Gone was the oppressive silence and gloom that hung about the two teams like a cloud. That would be gone in a few short hours, and they would all be the happy family they were before Jaune pulled that damn stunt of his.

Ren growled in his head, Jaune still had one hell of a punch coming his way for that. He looked down at Nora's sleeping face again, 'Shes drooling again.' Ren sighed, 'Must be a good dream then.'

* * *

 **Jaune 3:00 Hours Before Rescue**

"All right my friend, I think we have you sufficiently warmed up!" Luke said cheerfully, "Now the real fun begins"

'Warmed up?' Jaune thought. This madman had taken a crowbar to his legs, cut off his ring finger, and carved a tally of how many men and women he had successfully tortured up to that point on his back… It was 153 By the way. Oh yeah, and broke two of his ribs. He coughed up some blood as if emphasizing his mental monologue, "Oh Joy." He muttered.

"Now don't be like that, since this our last time we'll be having any quality time together I think I'll give you a parting gift." He said cheerfully brandishing a jagged and rusty knife. "You'll enjoy it! I guess you could say, I _Garen-tee_ it!" He paused hoping his joke would be noticed.

Jaune just looked at his captor with a look of utter disdain, "Gods I didn't think I could hate you any more than I do now, I was very wrong."

Luke just shrugged, "Not everyone can appreciate my comedic genius."

Jaune shook his head, "Anyways, what's the gift? Adrenaline shot? Another scar? World peace?"

Luke shook his head back and forth, "I actually need a favor, I need you to keep an eye on this knife I have." He waved the knife slowly in front of Jaune's face. Jaune looked at the knife, still the same knife as before, jagged protrusions, rusty, and Luke held it with a lax but familiar grip. "Not like that friend." Luke said with a maniacal cackle, "Like this!"

Luke reversed the grip he had on his knife and with his other hand held Jaune's face still as he plunged the knife into Jaune's left eye.

Jaune hadn't given anything to Luke after his first month, only his screams. After that month, Jaune had forced himself to stay as silent as the grave. Every cut after that would elicit a wince, every bruise would earn a glare, and every laceration a growl of hatred. But as soon as that knife hit his eye and the jagged metal caught on his skull. He let loose a howl of pain that could gain sympathy from even the most merciless Grimm.

* * *

 **Ren 30 Minutes Before Operation Revival**

Ren felt something really off about this, but he volunteered anyways. He felt that the information came along to the teens naturally, no resistance, no digging needed. Almost as if it was delivered with the morning mail. Except it came from Ozpin. And it came with coffee instead of the other mail.

But the base didn't look right either. It wasn't even on high alert, it was just… regular alert. No mechs were placed outside and the ground troops were at a minimum. The club isn't well guarded if the bouncers were easily thrashed.

He cast the thought from his mind, and a renewed fire burned inside him, "I am here for one thing, one person. Ignore everything else." He whispered to himself.

Ren looked out the window as his fellow huntresses readied themselves. He really needed more male friends. He shook his head slightly, the base he saw, as they came down from the sky, was in the middle of a forest. The hideout was embedded into the side of a mountain, it had very few guards in place out front and the actually entrance was a large circular metal door that made it look like a vault to a bank. And in front of that entrance were many trenches that the enemy could take cover in.

He hummed for a moment, before turning back to his comrades. They were still descending so he figured a plan was in order.

"Here's what I'm thinking, Yang-"

"Hey, I'm her team leader so I make the game plan!" Ruby huffed indignantly, "Besides, I was up all last night thinking of different ways to save Jaune, included, but not limited to,-"

Before Ruby could go on her completely well thought out plans, Ren interrupted her, "I understand Ruby, sorry, but does your game plan consist of running in, guns blazing?"

Ruby huffed indignantly, "No!"

Weiss looked skeptically at her young leader, "Really?"

"Of course!"

Weiss continued to look at her with a knowing expression on her face, not unlike a mother looking upon a fibbing child. And like a fibbing child Ruby's false expression turned to one of defeat.

Weiss asked again, "Really?"

"Maybe…" Ruby responded meekly. Then she looked back up at Weiss, "Sorry for wanting to make this quick and get Jaune back home!"

Pyrrha spoke this time in a monotonous tone, "That won't get Jaune home, it will get us all dead. Especially him. What would happen if we went charging in, mounting a full offensive with no plan B?" She let the question hang in there air before continuing. "We wouldn't survive, any forces we blow past in our hurry to get Jaune back will seal off whatever exit we had. Meaning the single entrance that we made in our attack be blocked by the foes that survived. They would circle back around and flank us."

Everyone was silent at that, Pyrrha had done something like this on many occasions after Jaune's disappearance. Normally she would find a way to put something in a polite and less depressing manner. But apparently that train of thought was taken into the backyard and put down like a rabid dog.

Ren ignored and spoke, "Regardless of the current situation, Ruby, I know you have every intention of rescuing Jaune, but we need a stealth approach to this. Hopefully we can get Jaune out before anyone even knows he's missing." Ren gave a rare smile, "Luckily for you guys, I have a game plan."


	2. Chapter 2

**Ren 0:00 Operation Rebirth in Effect**

Ren crawled along in the vent behind his Faunus friend Blake. Spiders, rats, cobwebs, dirt, and Gods know what else filled the old air ventilation system. "I know this was my idea, but I wish I had come up with a better one."

Blake stopped for a moment and looked back, Ren couldn't see anything except her golden eyes flashing back at him for a moment before turning ahead once again as she continued to crawl. A smirk was upon her lips, "Just think Ren, as soon as you get back outside Nora will be all over you."

Ren grunted lightly in response. He took out his scroll for a moment and checked his timer, "Two minutes left Blake we got to move."

"Roger."

The two continued moving slowly and quietly. Both knowing how important this mission was and each knowing that if they blew this, they would never see Jaune again. But the air was heavy and thick with tension, Ren wanted to do something to lighten it but not break it. A little stress was good for the body after all. Just-

"Enjoying the view back there?" The sudden comment came out of left field, in fact this comment came from the shattered moon, past the CCT Tower in Vale, and _then_ out of left field.

'What view is sh-' Then Ren ceased all activity in his brain. Reboot enabled. 'Oh that view' Ren blushed for a moment and whispered, "Sorry I'm taken."

Blake smiled, hummed in amusement, and nodded. As if confirming something, "Good answer, if it was anything else that wasn't along those lines, Nora would've killed me."

Ren laughed lightly, "She would have killed me first. At least you would get a head start."

"That doesn't mean much when she has near limitless energy."

Ren smiled, "Blake, she _does_ have limitless energy."

Blake stopped for a moment in the duct, "Fuck… Then I guess it's a good thing we don't like each other."

"A very good thing." Ren agreed.

Silence hung in the air for a few moments more before Blake came to a stop at a grate in front of her. "The cells are right below us," she whispered, "Jaune is going to be in one of them." Ren nodded, "When are Yang and Nora going to make their assault? It should be about ti-"

An explosion suddenly rocked the complex, the lights below them flickered and a siren began to sound. A man, speaking a language neither of them have heard before, came over the intercom and started shouting. Most likely orders. The two Hunters in training didn't need to understand the language to get the gist of what he was saying. 'We're under attack, go kill the enemy.'

Now came the hardest part of Ren's plan. Or the easiest part actually. Walk in, get Jaune, and walk out. The hardest part was not knowing the condition Jaune was in. Ren's guess? Not so great.

"Let's go." he whispered. Ren promptly flipped open the grate below him and dropped down.

Landing in the hallway below them yielded the two a sight of the door that led to Jaune's little slice of a prisoner's heaven. Ren checked the left side, "clear." He whispered. Blake checked the right side, "clear." She mirrored back. Ren then moved to one side of the door and motioned for Blake to do the same.

The two locked eyes and nodded confirmation to each other. Ren stepped in front of the door and in one swift motion, used his blades to remove the hinges and let said steel framed door fall into the room.

And there was Jaune, suspended by his wrists by steel and clinging to what little life he had left. Holding on by the barest of threads.

"Jaune." Ren's words were barely audible, the blonde boy looked up for a moment. Ren saw his friends covered in blood, scars new and old, burns, lacerations, bruises, and whatever he couldn't identify. Seeing this didn't bring pity unto Ren's being, nor anguish as both feelings would be wasted. Instead, for the first time since he first saw Nora being hurt by her own family, he felt pure unfiltered rage. However, as Ren began to bring his emotions quickly back into his control. He looked through the haze of rage and saw a dagger thrust into his eye, Ren grit his teeth and heard a crack, he was pretty sure he cracked a tooth… or two.

Yet when he looked at Jaune, the blonde boy gave a dry chuckle and spoke with a smile on his face. "Hey Ren, could you get me out of here? I guess I'm hanging in there," Jaune laughed lightly but coughed mid breath and blood spilled from his mouth. "But only barely." The broken boy hung his head. "Sorry, but you'll have to carry me, my friend for these past couple of months did a number on my legs." Jaune motioned to the unconscious body at the side of the room, Ren motioned for Blake to check it out while Ren moved to remove Jaunes restraints.

'First Jaune's safety, then revenge.' Ren thought.

"Everyone's been worried about you Jaune. Everything took a turn for the worse after you got taken from us." Ren tried removing the restraints without force at first to prevent undue noise. But when that failed he lost what little patience he came into the facility with and brought out Stormflower to slice the chains that held Jaune aloft.

As the chains came undone Ren gently grabbed Jaune's left arm and hung it around his shoulder whilst putting his own arm around Jaune to help him stand. Ren noted Jaune didn't weigh as much as he should have. "They starved you?" He asked. Jaune nodded lightly. "Yeah. But that's my own fault actually. Decided that Cinder looked better with that gruel on her face." He paused for a moment. "She didn't find it as funny as I did."

Ren nodded, a slight smile creeping onto his face. "Blake we got what we came for, let's get moving. And additional good news, Jaune has some humor left in him." Blake just nodded, "What about him?" She gestured to the body she was poking through, "He's still alive."

"Leave him." Jaune said, "Besides." He added darkly, "I'll have plenty of time to kill him later." He hung his head, hair covering his eyes. "This may sound childish, but I just want to go home." Ren nodded in understanding, "Don't worry Jaune, we'll be there soon. We just need to get out of here first."

Blake moved quickly to the door they had just entered through, looked down both halls, and then beckoned for Ren to follow.

Ren half dragged, half carried Jaune along with him as they made their way through the hallways of the base, any opposition met was dealt with swiftly and painfully by Blake. None of the White Fang soldiers could put up a decent fight against Blake, especially after she had seen that the organization turned to torture for information now.

After the fifth patrol of soldiers that Blake had dealt with, she turned and spoke. "Freedom is right through there Jaune." She pointed to a hatch in the ceiling and a ladder leading up through it. "Are you ready?"

Jaune nodded, kind of. It was more like he raised his head and let it fall from lack of strength.

 **Jaune**

He could cry. He could cry right here, right now, and in the arms of his brother. He wouldn't care at all. Neither of them would. His brother and the rest of his friends came for him. He knew it would take time. But it was never a matter of if… Only when.

He was being half dragged-half carried by Ren. He could hear Blake fighting, but he wasn't concerned by it, since all he could see was the bodies of White Fang pass by his vision, he made a safe assumption that they were winning.

Soon after, he was handed up a ladder and into a ventilation duct. He could crawl, albeit slowly. The trek through the vents were a long one. Every now and then he would hear Ren or Blake whisper something with a hand up to their respective ears. They were using earpieces to talk to the rest of teams RWBY and JNPR on the outside of the base.

Then Jaune heard the strangest most disturbing sound in his entire life. He could only compare it to a reality that he knew his entire life shattering in a single instant.

"God fucking damnit!" There was a beat of silence before Ren sheepishly turned his head back to look at the Blake and Jaune. "Sorry, lost my temper…"

"Who are you and what have you done with Ren." Jaune deadpanned.

Ren just shook his head, "Sorry I'll keep a better lid on that. I don't need Nora to bring out a swear jar."

He sighed, "Pyrrha just checked in, they cleared out all the Fang members around the designated exit but-" he growled in frustration again.

"But?" Jaune intoned.

"But she thinks Cinder knows our plan. She's pretty sure she's being shadowed by someone. " Worry was etched into Ren's face. "If Cinder knows our plan, it'll be messy. I didn't have a backup."

Jaune hummed for a moment. "Where is everyone else? What are the teams?"

"Well." Ren began, "Teams RWBY barring Blake, CFVY barring Velvet, and CRDL are in the main hangar area being led by Professor Port."

Jaune grinned, the gears in his head turning and cranking at full speed. "Perfect, that's right where I need everyone… Wait where's Velvet? And another thing, why's CRDL here? And Port!? And-" He stopped speaking and shook his head slightly, "Fuck it, liberation now, questions later. Take me to the hangar, this little reunion is long overdue."

 **Authors note (Because of course there's a fucking authors note.) :** **Hello there everyone, as some may know, this fic has been absent of any updates for nearly a year… Wow… I'm lazy as hell. Well, kinda, but not really. My main hobby is gaming, secondary is reading, and third is swordplay. That being said, I never really set apart time to write this fanfic specifically. I just write whenever. So fair warning to those who want this fic, the updates will be slow, small, and VERY infrequent.**

 **Another note, to those who PMed me asking when it was going to come out? It's ok to do that. You had a question and asked. The only bad question is one never asked. So feel free. But don't feel bad if I respond with something along the lines of 'Dunno.' Because, that may very well be my answer depending on where this fanfic goes… And to be honest, I have no clue where the hell am going with this.**

 **I intended this to be open for interpretations, did Ren's unknown plan work? What did the base look like? Are Ren and Nora still together but not together-together? Did Jaune even survive? Who knows!?**

 **But I do know this fic will probably be about five or six chapters long. Maybe… Haven't decided.**

 **However on to the biggest issue here. The length of this chapter… It's pitiful to say the least. But in order to compensate, I'll do something that I have seen around the web. An OMAKE!**

… **Yeah… underwhelming I KNOW. Just bear with me. I decided to put Jaune through the second greatest Torture (See what I did there?) I know… Playing Dark Souls III with no White Phantoms.**

 **Why the third one? It's the most recent one. And with that, to the Omake!**

 **Jaune**

Jaune had the overwhelming urge to throw the game controller in his hands out the window right about now. Now, you might ask why? Why would Jaune Arc, lovable goofball, friendly guy, and all around nice person throw anything in a fit of rage? Well… two words. 'You Died.'

That's right, those two words were currently plastered across the holo-screen in team JNPR's dorm room, before fading to black, and shortly thereafter, a loading screen with an item description on it… An item description that Jaune had read at least five thousand time already.

"Gods be damned." He muttered. Normally he wouldn't swear out loud. But Pyrrha was off training for about three hours as per usual at this time of day. Ren took Nora out to do something important. When questioned why he just said. "It's important, I'll tell you later." And then dragged Nora out of the room.

So he had plenty of time to rage at a game he was decent at. He heaved a large sigh and gripped the game controller with newfound fervor. He respawned at the bonfire in the new DLC recently released. The Painted World of Ariandel. He thought it was beautiful, 'baring the humanoid bird creatures that looked to be crippled and covered in a black slime… And the Corvian Knights… And the ice crabs… And the GODDAMN TWO PHASE FUCKING BOSS FIGHT.' He internally sighed, 'Barring all that it still looks pretty.'

Jaune spawned in the chapel just before the boss, his character was clad in steel armor, leather gloves and boots, with shiny steel metal covering every inch of his body, and a blue tabard to accentuate the other belts and odd n ends that adorned his character. He held a sword in his right hand and a kite shield in his other.

He pressed the D-Pads on his controller and cycled through his other equipment. Double checking and making sure everything was still there. "Plenty of arrows, my sunlight talisman, sword, shield, 15 Estus +10. All right good to go."

Jaune moved his character down the stairs in front of the fog wall. Casting a few buff spells he entered the boss fight, ready to stab the boss to kingdom come.

"SON OF A BITCH, I FORGOT SLAVE KNIGHT GAEL! MOTHERFUCKER!"

It was true. Jaune had started the second phase boss fight, with no additional help. Much to his dismay.

"GODDAMMNIT."

As he is clearly stating.

'I can do this, I can do this.' All was going well until halfway through the fight, Father Ariandel paused for a moment and then healed himself, and sister Friede.

Time seemed to pause at this moment. Jaune took in this new info. Father Ariandel, can heal himself… And Friede… It was at this moment in time that Jaune, inhaled deeply,

"MOTHERFU-"

"GODAMN FINALLY." Jaune half shouted in exasperation. He had finally stabbed Father Ariandel to death. By himself. With no Slave Knight help… Which sucked for hime. Though at least Ariandel was an easy target. That, and Ariandel and Friede shared a healthbar.

Jaune let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding and sat back, relaxing and closing his eyes. "Finally." He murmured.

"When the Ashes are two, a flame alighteth." Father Ariandel intoned.

Jaunes eyes popped open. "What?" He saw his character standing there. With these word appearing on screen just below him.

"Thou'rt Ash, and fire befits thee, of course…"

And with that, a health bar labeled 'Blackflame Friede' appeared at the bottom of the screen, and then it began to fill. Just as Friede stood and wreathed her scythe in flame.

And Jaune, in his ever mounting fury, had one thing, and one thing only to say.

"This isn't funny Fromsoftware."


End file.
